If you find out one movie about someone who saw dead multitude in the summertime of 1999 , then it was probablyThe Sixth Sense . M. Night Shyamalan — who take this summer ’s divisive thriller , Trap — rodeThe Sixth Senseto the top of the box agency as it became a blockbuster and finally earned six Oscar nominations . But that meant thatStir of Echoes , another supernatural thriller that partake many of the same themes , was almost totally overshadowed by Shyamalan ’s breakout plastic film when it arrived a month later in September 1999 .
Screenwriter and manager David Koepp adapted Richard Matheson ’s 1958 novel of the same name and give it a modern update . Regardless , Stir of Echoesonly finish with $ 23.1 million worldwide . That may be one of the key reasons whyStir of Echoeshas never fully been fully sweep up on its own terms . But now that the 25th day of remembrance ofStir of Echoeshas arrived , it ’s time to search back and see if it still holds up as a great revulsion movie .
Kevin Bacon delivers a great performance
consider that Kevin Bacon has been do professionally since 1977 , he ’s get a unco high part of adept film to his course credit . hustle of Echoesmay be underestimate , but it ’s also got one of Bacon ’s best performances as everyman Tom Witzky . apart from the fact that his boy , Jake ( Zachary David Cope ) , can already perceive the dead at the beginning of the story , Tom is about as normal as it gets .
thing take a unknown turn for Tom when his babe - in - law , Lisa ( Illeana Douglas ) , incidentally unlocks his own supernatural perceptions with a mesmerizing proffer . Bacon make Tom ’s subsequent freakouts really believable , as he ’s both frightened and angered by his new endowment . FutureLaw & Order : Criminal Intentstar Kathryn Erbe is also quite good as Tom ’s wife , Maggie Witzky , but Bacon keeps this film grounded in realness even when his character is losing control of his life sentence .
It’s a genuinely creepy ghost story
One of the common threads between this motion picture andThe Sixth Senseis that the dead have unfinished business on Earth , and they wo n’t rest until someone takes care of it for them . The thing that separatesStir of Echoesfrom Shyamalan ’s film is that the ghosts really feel like they do n’t go in this world .
The primary ghost in this movie is a recently at rest new girl named Samantha Kozac ( HouseandOnce Upon a Timestar Jennifer Morrison ) . Samantha is n’t a malevolent spirit , but once she set forth frequent Tom , she nearly drives him mad so as to get him to do what she want . It ’s a creepy experience on its own , and it also makes Tom ’s arouse sprightliness begin to crumble .
Stir of Echoes also works as a crime thriller
It would be too big of a despoiler to explain why Samantha ’s spirit is so uneasy , but we can say that a heinous offense was committed against her . That force Tom to recreate amateur police detective as he has to cipher out what materialize to Samantha , and why his neighbors are so eager to see her case drag in under the carpeting .
Ghosts only have specify powers in the soil of the living , and the people that Tom really has to worry about are the ones who are still breathe .
The ending leaves a strong impression
Without giving any particular away , the film does break up Samantha ’s bare business and it brings Tom ’s story to an destruction . But the conclusion also reminds us that Jake had his second sight first , and it ’s not go away just because this particular problem has been resolved .
Instead , the flick closes on a semi - baleful note by give viewing audience a mouthful of what it ’s like to have Jake ’s endowment in a world fill up with spirits who need something from him .
WatchStir of EchoesonFreevee .
